Movita
Biography
Movita was an American actress, born Maria Luisa Castaneda in Nogales, Arizona. Her screen work started with a Carioca performance opposite Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933). During the 1930s she was cast as exotic women in English and Spanish language pictures, among them the Tahitian part of Tehanni in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), with Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. Island-girl roles came in Paradise Isle (1937) and Girl from Rio (1939), the second with Warren Hull. She later took the lead in Tower of Terror (1941), a British thriller featuring Wilfrid Lawson and Michael Rennie. After a break she returned to film in Fort Apache (1948), playing a cook for Henry Fonda, and then starred with Tim Holt in Saddle Legion (1951) and The Mysterious Desperado (1949). Minor westerns and TV parts followed, including 17 episodes of Knots Landing as Ana between October 1987 and May 1989. She died in 2015.
98years old at death
- Born Nogales
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: AriesThe sign runs March 21 to April 19
- Also credited as Maria Luisa Castaneda
Movie Career
- Films
- 7
- Career span
- 18 years1935 to 1953
Genres
First and latest
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First role
Movita's acting career started with her singing the Carioca to the first dance number of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933), the first film the famous duo made together.
Movita movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
John Ford directed three of these films. Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Ward Bond's page
Hank Worden's page
Mamo Clark's page
All films by John Ford
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.